When it comes to speakers, the bigger doesn't necessarily mean the better. The same holds true when it comes to sound because loudness and bass as well as clarity in the treble and mid range are essential for a balanced sounding speaker.
The ability to be easily carried is another advantage going for a speaker because, let's face it, nobody likes carrying around big things! The Edifier MP280 is a good sounding speaker that is also small and nifty as it also doubles as a power bank that you can use to charge your smartphone.
Built-in to the Edifier MP280 are two 48mm passive bass radiator speakers on either side of the cylindrical unit that deliver a total RMS power of 8W and a frequency response between 75Hz and 18kHz. The result is clear treble and decent bass coupled with superb volume and all-around sound thanks to the speakers being positioned back to back.
The construction of the Edifier MP280 bluetooth speaker is rugged thanks to the use of silicone rubber all-around the unit. including the port area which features a pop-up cover. The Edifier MP280 is not IPX rated so it's safe to assume the speaker is neither waterproof or water resistant though giving the silicone exterior it should be able to handle some minimal water splashing.
The two buttons on the side of the unit let you power on/off the unit and toggle between the different input modes. It's nice that you get a small led which changes color according to the input mode selected which include wired/line-in (green led), wireless/ bluetooth (blue led) and microSD card (red led).
The buttons with plus and minus symbols are the volume/track control buttons which only work while in bluetooth and microSD card mode. To volume up and skip track forward, you press the "plus" button once. To volume down and skip track backward, you press the "minus" button once.
The standard USB port delivers output charge via the built-in 500mA lithium-ion battery; hence you also get a very convenient power bank all-in-one compact solution. The other ports include a line-in port, a micro USB charging port and the microSD card slot. The microSD card slot supports microSD cards up to 32GB in size and three audio formats (mp3, WMA, WAV).
When connected to your smartphone and you receive a phone call, the Edifier MP280 can be used as a speakerphone. Simply press the button with a circle symbol to answer or reject the call. While in speakerphone, you can also switch back the conversation to your phone by pressing the same button.
There is also a charging led indicator in the port area which glows red during charging and turns off after charging is complete. The MP280 speaker can take a 2A input charge so full charge takes just 90 minutes when using a 2A USB power charger.
Depending on usage and volume level, you can power the MP280 speaker for up to 10 hours. Battery life is further improved thanks to automatic shut off which powers down the unit after 10 minutes when an input source is not detected.
Talking about the Edifier MP280 features, it comes with Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, microSD slot, and auxiliary input. That is a total of four ways you can connect to external devices, which is pretty cool.
The Edifier MP280 has an NFC receiver built-in which works very much like connecting via Bluetooth but connection is much faster. NFC only works if your phone has this feature on your phone.